When Silvana goes to confession to relieve tension, she’s interrupted by the ghost of Progressive Era activist Jane Addams whose Hull House provided “sanctuary” for Silvana’s family after their immigration to the United States in the early 20th century. Through their encounter, both women gain a deeper understanding of their respective histories and paths towards redemption.
Janet wants an ordinary life, one more like her sister’s, but she can’t shake the memories or secrets surrounding the day their childhood garage burned to the ground. When her childhood love returns just as she discovers she’s pregnant with another man’s baby, Janet has to figure out how to confront the ghosts of her past and also make more authentic choices for her future. Shooting Stars is about memory, autonomy, and the different ways sisters test and strengthen the bonds that connect them.
Opening the Box, Script-in-Hand Series, Writers & Books, Rochester, 2025
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Thirteen Ways
Jo and Tony repeat and repeat again the same comically absurd argument about the ethics of kidnapping. The danger is that as long as their goal remains to win, neither one of them ever feels heard. A fun, provocative look into the dynamics of disagreeing with someone you love.
Rachel has purchased Cynthia, an AI programmed to be a younger version of herself, in order to address some past experience with a man she worked with twenty years earlier. As the play progresses, though, it becomes clear that something else is hidden in Rachel’s unconscious. It’s not until she uses an experimental electrode method of programming Cynthia that she confronts the consequences of her own childhood mistakes–and learns how to address her current relationship more directly.
When Paul’s mother returns after a ten-year absence, Paul is forced to confront the circumstances of her leaving as well as his own complicity in shaping a world where women are not always safe. In the era of #MeToo, the play Swans is a tender exploration of a local family torn apart by abuse.
This collection of 27 short plays set across New York State chronicles the cultural and geographical diversity of the state, exploring different histories and ideologies specific to different regions. Some employ straightforward, gritty realism; some employ choruses that function as ghosts or speak in poetry; some are experimental in their staging; some aim for lyricism; some have no spoken words at all. All confront the complexity and humanity of the dramatic form—as well as of New York State, its landscape, and its residents.
In Hearts, Harry launches an affair with Lisa while following the trail of a twenty-year-old environmental crime. By the play’s end, both characters wrestle with questions of accountability and exchange in a market-based economy, as well as with the relationship between personal loss, romantic love, and the stories we tell ourselves about our lives.
Revolutions tells the stories of Cody, Adele, Hugh, and Ellie in monologue form–first on the morning of July 4, and then later that evening. The four characters are connected not only by their celebrations of Independence Day, but also by their confrontations with the paradox of revolution: a word that means both to break out of and to persist in a pattern. Accompanying this theme are circular images and metaphors that infuse each monologue, inviting audience members to explore what it means to revolt as much as what it means to revolve.
Conceived by Maria Brandt and Erin Bell, Written by Maria Brandt, Performed by Erin Bell, 2006
Maria Brandt 